Part one

The Spykers were the first cars out on track but Adrian Sutil’s hopes were dashed early in the session. Having set a time almost a second quicker than team mate Sakon Yamamoto he pulled off on his way back to the pits.

Lewis Hamilton’s first lap looked scrappy – oversteering wide in the first corner and only five hundredths of a second quicker than Mark Webber’s Red Bull. It was no better for Fernando Alonso – over six tenths slower than Hamilton on his first lap.

All the drivers appeared to be struggling for grip on the hot track, which had exceeded 60C. Kimi Raikkonen pipped Hamilton by 0.017s on his second lap – but then Felipe Massa took over at the top, seven tenths faster than anyone, also on his second lap.

The battle at the bottom comprised Jenson Button (less than three hundredths behind Jarno Trulli), Ralf Schumacher, Anthony Davidson, Kazuki Nakajima, Sutil (who was already out of the session) and Yamamoto. But less than seven tenths covered seventh (Vitantonio Liuzzi) to 18th (Schumacher).

Schumacher and Button both made it out of the bottom six – Button taking 16th with his final effort before Heikki Kovalainen narrowly failed to beat it. The Finn’s last lap was 0.024s slower than Button after a mistake in tbe last sector and he failed to reach the second part of qualifying for the second time this year.

Takuma Sato also fell into the drop zone alongside with fellow Japanese drivers Yamamoto and debutante Kazuki Nakajima.

The only one of the top four drivers to set an extra lap was Alonso, who used up one of his sets of super soft tyres to set the second fastest time.

Part two

With track conditions proving challenging it was over four minutes before anyone ventured out on track in the second session, the first being Schumacher. A minute later came the predictable burst of activity.

This time Raikkonen tok over the top of the times, one tenth ahead of Hamilton, with Massa just as far behind the Briton. Alonso was three tenths down in fourth, just four thousandths faster than Robert Kubica.

The Pole’s car failure in morning practice would not cause him a grid penalty, and being so close to Alonso he did not feel the need to do another lap.

The slowest six before the final laps were Rubens Barrichello, Nico Rosberg, David Coulthard, Button, Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. They all went out for a final shot along with Webber, Nick Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella and Liuzzi.

Fisichella and Liuzzi would lose their grip on the top ten in the final laps. Home contender Barrichello came close to getting into the final, but was knocked out by Trulli.

Barrichello nevertheless managed to get his Honda within five hundredths of a second of Heidfeld’s BMW in tenth. Trulli was over four tenths faster than Schumacher, who was squeezed out.

Part three

Lewis Hamilton sat at the front of the queue to begin the final part of qualifying, with team mate Fernando Alonso behind him followed by the two Ferraris. Also making it through to the final ten were both BMWs and both Red Bulls, plus Rosberg’s Williams and Trulli’s Toyota.

As they came out on the track it looked like the first lap of the race as the McLarens and Ferraris cruises around two-by-two. Interestingly, both the McLarens elected to do their ‘fuel burn’ laps on the softer compound – possibly evaluating tyre wear on track temperatures that had dropped slightly to 57C by this stage in qualifying.

Unusually Ferrari pitted their drivers one lap earlier than McLaren to start their final laps. Alonso followed Hamilton so closely during the first laps that he had to wait briefly for his tyre change.

Raikkonen was the first driver around to set a time and he had to pass Hamilton on the way, who dodged out of the Ferrari’s path on the exit of Ferradura.

The Finn’s lap of 1’12.539 was instantly beaten by Massa whose 1’12.128 gave him provisional pole. Hamilton also beat Raikkonen with a 1’12.410. He was four tenths quicker than Alonso in the middle sector, and the Spaniard’s 1’12.984 left him fractionally behind Webber. When Alonso pitted for new tyres there were clear signs of graining.

Hamilton came out of the pits just ahead of Raikkonen once again, but as the Finn went past him the Ferrari twitched wide on the exit of Subida do Lago. Raikkonen nevertheless took second with a 1’12.322.

Massa continued to extend his advantage, setting a 1’11.931, which cemented pole position. Hamilton came very close to beating it, faster than everyone in the middle sector, but ended up second on 1’12.082.

Alonso, crucially, got himself free of Webber and very nerly beat Raikkonen to third with a 1’12.356.

As for Alonso: Swedish commentators said he had had trouble finding a good setup (hence his low position in morning practice) and had reverted to friday’s settings for quali. Which would explain his weak driving (up to Q3 at least, his final run was about as good as Raikonnen’s so as I said above, they could hopefully be heavier).